Pokemon Eclipse
by MeCKumSOFT
Summary: A story set in the post-apocolytic world of Pokemon after a legendary crisis. This story features the truth about all the legendary pokemon and their importance to the world and reveals the ultimate power that is Aura. INTRO CHANGED!
1. Intro

**Pokemon ****Eclipse**

Three weeks before the 21st Pokemon League

Chaos and Destruction was popping up everywhere, each Region was beginning to be thrown in a world of pain. No one could understand what was happening and why but they knew where it all began.

In Kanto, "Reports of destruction have been coming from all around the world. The PNN brings you live from Cinnabar Island, ground zero." A News broadcast starts, "you were there to witness the explosions, sir. Tell our viewers what you saw," a reporter starts with terror in her voice.

"A pokemon, I think it was the legendary -" They were both cut off, the camera falls and cuts off. Then it turns back it on, real fuzzy. People are running and screaming as explosions can be heard in the background. The camera cuts off again.

Finally the camera turns on one last time. In the background, a black colored Pokemon who resembles Mew, only more vicious can be seen advancing toward the camera. It lets out a deep ear crushing cry. "MYUUUUU!" The camera cuts out for the last time.

* * *

In Johto similar reports had been coming in, all taking place in the ruins of the Brass tower. The previous home of the legendary pokemon Lugia, Ho-oh, Raikou, Entei and Suicune, until it was destroyed by a mysterious fire. Recently many of the old residents have been seen in the location, but no proof had been shown until now. A tourist from Hoenn had taken their camera to the Burnt Tower.

"Smile honey!" The man using the camera called to his wife who was standing near the entrance to the tower. The woman then poses for her husband, "just like that, yeah."

A large roar could be heard from above and a second later, a large lightning bolt struck down onto the tower. The bolt of lightning started a small fire which escalated in a matter of seconds, "Lisa! Get back!" The man called to his wife who ran to his side.

From inside the tower The Legendary Beasts ran out, Entei, Suicune and Raikou. The cameraman followed them with his camera till they were outside. He turned back to continue to capture the tower burning, but dropped his camera upon seeing the legendary Ho-oh rise from the flames. Luckily the camera fell and was aiming upwards to see Ho-oh stare into the sky for a few moments before the second Legendary comes.

Lugia flies down from the sky and stares at Ho-oh for a few moments before flapping it's wings hard toward the Guardian of the Sky. The power of it's wings create a gust of wind so strong that the fire is removed from the tower. Ho-oh returns the attack with Sacred Fire, a large blast of fire, damaging Lugia greatly. They stare at each other for a few more seconds, before turning away. Ho-oh heads toward Mount Silver, sending blasts of Fire everywhere it goes. Lugia returns toward the Whirl Islands, a storm beginning to brew from it's wings.

Since the reappearance of the Legendarys Johto has been impossible to reach or leave due to the Storms and Fire plaguing it.

* * *

Hoenn wasn't any different. Although no footage was records, many witnesses were there to see the destruction as it happened. They had all gathered to watch Juan defend his title as he was challenged to a Gym Battle.

As the Leader and trainer send out their pokemon they are halted by the suddenly change in climate. On Juan's side a large storm had appeared, pouring down rain on everyone. The sunlight had turned harsh on the Trainer's side, causing everyone to sweat madly. Their questions were soon answered as Kyogre of the Sea and Groundon of the Land reached one another and decided to continue their battle once more.

Sootopolis was once again the arena of their battle but this time a third opponent was about to appear, Rayquaza of the Sky. The citizen's of Hoenn were relieved to see the large dragon as it was the only pokemon able to stop Groundon and Kyogre's battle, but before long they realized it was not why it was there. Rayquaza was there to battle the other two, proof of this was gained once the dragon fired a double Dragon Pulse on both the Land and Sea Pokemon.

The rest of Hoenn was in peril as well, half of the region was flooded while the other half was drying up. As time passed it continued to grow worse as the Pokemon battled and unleashed more of their power. The Gym Leaders and the Frontier Brains tried to evacuate everyone to safety but were stopped with the appearance of Regice, Regirock and Registeel. The leaders and brains had no choice but to defend their land against the pokemon that had suddenly gone rogue.

* * *

The Sevii Islands were no better off. Although much much smaller than the other regions, they were facing the power of some of the strongest Pokemon known.

One Island was being terrorized the Lightning Bird known as Zapdos. Two Island was being attacked by the DNA Pokemon Deoxys. Three Island was under attack by Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokemon. Four Island was having trouble fending off Articuno, while Five Island was dealing with Moltres. While no legendary Pokemon were attacking Six and Seven Island, the wild Pokemon of the islands were going mad and attacking anyone they saw.

* * *

Sinnoh was possibly the worst out of all the Regions. They didn't see Dialga and Palkia but the residents of Sinnoh knew they were using their abilities. Time and Space was tearing everywhere. The people in Amity Square were thrown for a loop when the ground beneath them suddenly eroded and they were pulled underground. In the Fight Area there were reports of trainers battling the same battle for what seemed like years.

Only one person had managed to witness Dialga and Palkia's show of power, the Champion, Cynthia who had traversed Mount Coronet as training exercise. She hid herself behind some boulders and watched the two pokemon battle one another, being commanded by two shadowy figures.

The two Legendarys stare at one another after being released, awaiting commands from their trainers. The streets crumple below them due to the pressure. Above the two pokemon the strange colored Mew is seen floating around. Both figures see it but ignore it for now.

"Palkia! Focus Punch!" One of them commands and Palkia takes a few seconds to power up.

"Use Earth Power, Dialga!" The second screams out. Dialga stands on two feet for a second before crashing down causing the earth to quake and crack. The crack moves forward till it reaches Palkia and suddenly sharp pieces of the earth rise up and strike Palkia all around, causing it to lose it's focus.

Palkia struggles a bit, caught between the peices of earth. The second takes advantage of Palkia's dilemma. "Dragon Claw!"

Dialga rushes toward Palkia and slashes at the dragon with it's claws, cutting through the earth, accidentally freeing Palkia.

"Dragon Pulse!"

Palkia opens it's mouth and shoots a strong wave of energy at Dialga, pushing it back. "Again!" Palkia follows through and sends Dialga further back with a second Dragon Pulse.

"Counter with Thunder!" The shadow commands.

The sky above Palkia becomes cloudy and a large lightning bolt strikes down and hits Palkia, momentarily stunning it.

"Fire Blast!"

Palkia inhales deeply and sends a strong blast of fire at Dialga, much too fast to avoid. Dialga takes a direct hit and remains motionless for a moment.

The figures look at their pokemon, knowing they can't last much longer at this rate. "Let's go all out," One suggests.

The other grins, "and here I was thinking the same thing."

"Roar of Time!"

"Spacial Rend!"

The two moves clash in the center, begin creating a large ball of energy that continues to increase in size and spin around. Cynthia gasps as she watched the energy form and knows in an instant the chaos it will cause, but she alone can't stop Dialga and Palkia.

Meanwhile, somewhere in time. Celebi is tending to it's egg when it is suddenly pulled backwards through time, it's egg still in it's arm.

In the center, the large ball of energy energy begins to subside and a very injured Celebi falls to the ground. It's egg out of reach.

The first shadow's eyes widen with Greed and he reaches for a Pokeball. As he throws it, the Celebi opens it's eyes and vanishes, forgetting it's egg. The ball hits the other in the face.

The second makes his move for the egg, but is halted by the vine's of a Venasaur. The first laughs and starts to go for the egg but is paralyzed from a Thunder Wave.

"Stop right there," someone outside of Cynthia's view yells. "You aren't taking anything home!"

The black Mew looks down at the egg confused and flies down and snatches it. "Myu!!" Using it's Psychic powers it crushes the egg so no one can have it and vanishes, laughing.

Inside the egg was no pokemon at all, but Time itself. Mew's actions opened a portal to a place where time and space don't exist, they called it The Vortex.

The portal rises from where the egg was destroyed till it blocks the path of the Sun, causing an Eclipse and a roar came out that could be heard all around the world.

* * *

No one knows what happened at Mount Coronet after the portal had risen and the roar was heard. Except that the world was almost destroyed and all the people there at the time had vanished, except for Cynthia's Lucario who had witnessed the events and was somehow left there uninjured. The strange black Mew was called Myu ever since.

...

The world changed dramatically, the continents were rearranged, all technology was lost. Many pokemon were fossilized and people were killed in the chaos. The surviving gym leaders, frontier brains and Pokedex holders then formed a group known as the Ragnarok Defense Force and started trying to rebuild their society. Things weren't exactly the way they were and would never be the same.

((The information is based off the manga mostly with some anime and game influences. Written by Brian Mecum (Oz) and Brian Hodge(CK). Please read and review any criticism is welcome.))


	2. Chapter One Sunrise

**Pokemon Eclipse**

_After years of research the most powerful Pokemon was discovered, 1.3 times the size of the moon. With the power of the sun in it's jaw. Elkepio transends existance. It's body never seen, it's cry was never heard, it's name has never been spoken. Elkepio, the Pokemon that never was. _

_"It's coming, the end is near!" The lips of mad men speak. No one knowing, or believing what they say. Elkepio, then inevitable end._

* * *

In the forest next to the town of Gaiville, a young boy is walking around admiring Pokemon thinking of what pokemon to choose.

Crescent Kindorushi had been taking pictures of all types of Pokemon for his collection. His last picture was a Noctowl giving berries to it's Hoothoots. He takes the picture and slides it into his pocket, ready to take it home when he's finished. Looking down at his watch, "alright I can squeeze one more in before it's time to go."

His walk in the forest led him to a stream where a Seviper and Zangoose were having their daily battle. Crescent quickly hides himself in a nearby bush and waits for the first strike to take the picture.

Seviper slithers back and forth, using Mean Look at Zangoose. Zangoose returns the gaze with Leer, lowing Seviper's defense. Crescent sighs, this was taking too long.

Finally, Seviper dashes across the stream, opening it's mouth - it's fangs glowing. "Poison Fang.." Crescent thinks, watching.

Zangoose closes it's eyes after seeing Seviper's attack and uses Double Team. Multiple Zangooses appear and surround Seviper. The snake pokemon swings it's tail around, attacking two fake pokemon and narrows it's eyes at the real Zangoose but was too slow in attacking.

Seviper's long white tail began to glow and shine brightly, it was use Iron Tail. Twisting it's body around a few times it leaps into the air and twirls at Seviper, striking it hard with it's tail and sending it across the stream. Zangoose smiles, happy with itself.

Crescent watches intensely, wondering how Seviper can win. Zangoose crosses it's arms, waiting for Seviper's next attack. After awhile it gives up, thinking it had won.

The ground beneath Zangoose shakes a bit and a mud-covered Seviper shoots out from the ground colliding with Zangoose and sending it into the air.

Zagoose turns and prepares it's Body Slam, as Seviper's Tail glows purple and it readies Poison Tail.

Right before the too attacks collide Crescent takes out his camera, aims and presses the button and there's a beep. He looks down and the screen reads _Full. _He turns back to the two pokemon and sees Zangoose wobbling around, a deep gash in it's stomach. Seviper is sprawled out of the ground, it's body deep in the ground, obviousily paralyzed.

Sighing deeply, he stands up and walks away. Looking down at his watch he saw the time and his sadness went away, "Perfect, I'll be right on time." He squeeled with delight, "and I'll get the first pick too!"

In the middle of the Gaiville was Professor Furn's Labratory where each Pokemon Trainer recieved their starter Pokemon. This was Crescent's destination but he had one more stop to make before getting his pokemon.

Near the edge of the forest was Crescent's home, luckily no one was home so he wouldn't be in trouble for coming back so late that it was now morning. He opened the door, ran up the stairs and into his room and closed the door behind him. Searching for a decent pair for what seemed like hours, he finally settled on a good combination. He looked out the window, wondering why it was still so dark out, but shrugged it off.

He left his hair how he always does, combed and tied back in a ponytail. His shirt was a dark blue long sleeved shirt, half of the other sleeve was missing. He cut off the second sleeve to leave room for his guantlet the Professor will give him. Over that shirt he wore a silver cape-like cloth that covered his shoulders and part of his arms. His belt was black with a gold and silver Pokeball as a buckle. His pants were just plain blue jeans with half of his leg pant leg missing, no reason he could think of, just liked it that way. As always, he put his Rushing Shoes on his feet. These pair were red and white and acted as Running Shoes with a Hoverblading effect.

"Perfect!" He announced, admiring himself in the mirror. "Now let's go get our starter!" Walking out of his room and zooming down the stairs and out of the house thanks to his Rushing Shoes, he makes it to Professor Furn's place in no time at all. Checking his watch one final time to see he's one minute early. He decided to knock anyway, "hey Professor!! I WANT MY POKEMON!"

After banging on the door for about ten more minutes, a very tired looking Professor opens the door, staring daggers at Crescent. "You forgot about Daylight Savings Time, didn't you?" Fern was a tall man, unlike most professors. His white hair and long beard showed off his age, but it was so neatly kept it made you wonder what else the man did.

Crescent ignored Furn's question amd marched inside, looking at the table that holds the starters. He was shocked to see someone had already beat him here, as there was only two Pokeballs left. "Ack, someone beat me here?" He crossed his arms and thought of the other starting trainers, wondering who could've beat him here. "I bet it was that damn Terra.." He turned to Furn, angry. "I see how it is, give your daughter first pick but I stayed up all night for this.." He sighed deeply, frustrating.

"Crescent.. believe me when I say no one is earlier than you are." He mumbled something under his breath but Crescent couldn't hear it. "Anyway, no one beat you here, my Balum seemed to have broken out of it's pokeball. You can only choose Matrike or Spasish."

"Aww man! I wanted Balum too.. I guess I'll go with Matrike." He tries to recall any information about Matrike but gives up and says, "yeah cats are pretty strong."

Furn looks from Matrike's pokeball to Crescent, "actually Crescent.. Matrike is a very diffiicult -"

"Which one is it?!" He looks at the pokeballs trying to guess which one his starter is.

Furn sighs in annoyance and picks up the pokeball with the flame on the button. "Here is your Matrike. Now go, and begin your journey."

Crescent stares at his pokeball, full of excitement, "wow.. my first pokemon." Tears begin to swell up in his eyes at he stares at Matrike inside the pokeball.

The older man looks down at the new trainer, a bit envious. He could remember when he recieved his first starter and what a feeling it was to know what lies ahead. He walks passed the table holding the remaining Pokemon and into his Laboratory, grabbing a long glove. Returning to Crescent he hands the boy the glove. "This is your PokeDeck. Opening your palm and facing it toward a pokemon will send out a beam of energy at the pokemon. The beam will analyze your pokemon and give you any information anyone has of that type."

"When attempting to catch a Pokemon, just imagine holding a full size Pokeball. the outline of a Pokeball appears and your hand and you throw that outward - instead of wasting pokeballs. Once the energy ball hits a Pokemon, a real pokeball appears in your hand. Your grip on the Pokeball will determine if the Pokemon will break free or not," Furn finished quoting from his book. He looks and sees Crescent's not even paying attention but still staring at the Pokeball. "Crescent? You alright?"

"It's.. a lot smaller than I thought it was gonna be," he says depressed.

Furn sighs, "you have to release it from the Pokeball."

Crescent unfreezes, "oh yeah, that's right." He threw the pokeball forward, hitting the wall, bouncing off the ground and then out the window.. that was closed.

Crescent quickly runs after his pokemon, Furn stares at the broken window. "Good luck, Crescent.. don't come back."

Outside of the Professor's house, Matrike paces around near it's Pokeball. Crescent's relieved to it's okay. Matrike passes the Pokeball between it's paws a couple times before sending it away and then chasing it. Matrike was a small and red cat-like pokemon. It's tail's tip was a darker red, though.

"Yeah, definitally a cat. Hmm.." He places on his PokeDeck and opens his palm, facing Matrike. "_Matrike, known as the Match Cat Pokemon. When angered it strikes it's tail against the ground, igniting it's flame. Hard to train because of it's strong, stubborn will._" Crescent chuckles, "It seems nice enough." He kneels down to face Matrike, "hey, I'm Crescent.. guess me and you are stuck together for awhile."

Matrike stares at Crescent for a few seconds, studying him. Quickly runs to it's Pokeball, presses the button and goes back inside. "Hey! That's not nice!" He rushes over and picks up the Pokeball with his Guantlet. The Pokeball minimizes and gets sucked into his Guantlett. "What the.. hey! Give that back!" He shakes his hand around, trying to release Matrike from the glove. "Gimme my Matrike!" Upon saying the name of the Pokemon, the Pokeball appears in his hand, full size. "Thank you."

He stares at it for a few seconds before squeezing down, making the Pokeball return to the Guantlet once more. "Matrike," he says quietly. The Pokeball reemerges. "Alright, I get it now."

Shrugging it off he decided it doesn't have a need to be out of the Pokeball yet anyway so he leaves it inside. "Alright, first destination Stark Town's Gym." He starts walking which turns into a jog, then soon he's dashing through the town with his Rushing Shoes activated. Although moving fast he makes mental notes of all the people he sees, remembering to visit them. "Here we are," he says applying the breaks as he reaches the city limit. "Grabit Forest, south of Stark Town."

He takes a deep breath and calls for Matrike. "I'm gonna need you out here for a bit, I'm not used to this -" He was cut off by Matrike returning to it's Pokeball once more. "Damn it, come on!"

He throws the Pokeball out once more, Matrike appearing, looking annoyed. She makes a move for the Pokeball but Crescent pulls it out of her reach. "No, first we gotta get through the forest. I'm trainer, damn it."

Matrike drags her tail against the ground for a few seconds before lifting it up, the tip now on fire. It walks towards Crescent viciousily, it's tail infront on it. Crescent gulps and walks toward the forest, "hey, come on. We're friends, right?"

Matrike raised it's tail to it's face and inhaled deeply. Crescent quickly ran behind a nearby tree for cover. The cat pokemon exhaled and a stream of fire goes out toward the tree Crescent's hiding behind. The tree catches on fire and many grass, bug and flying pokemon flee from the flames.

"Geeze, that's a little unnessesary." Crescent said watching the Pokemon flee and then he see's a small little Pillanter crawling as fast as it can away from the fire but it's not fast enough. Crescent looks between Matrike and the Pillanter, quickly deciding to run out and grab the Pillanter, saving it from the fire.

Matrike hisses and runs after Crescent, dragging it's tail against the ground as it runs. The trainer stares down at the Pillanter, "you alright?"

Pillanter nods its head, "Pillaa~aan."

Crescent finally notices how cute the Pillanter is and smiles a little. Small little blue body, with a black line on it's stomach and large yellow eyes. He blushes a bit at the cuteness of Pillanter, "aww." He looks back at Matrike. "Hey, you should know this forest pretty well, right?"

Pillanter nods, "PillaPill!"

"Where's a good safe place to battle so no one gets hurt?" He asks the bug pokemon.

Pillanter turns it's head and fires a thread of silk to the right, Crescent turns and follows each String Shot Pillanter fires off till they reach a clearing. He stops in the center and sits Pillanter down. Both him and the pokemon turn to Matrike. "Pillanter, will you help me.. calm Matrike down?"

Pillanter nods happily at Crescent and then narrows it's eyes at Matrike.

Matrike leans down, ready to pounce at a moment's notice, waiting for Pillanter.

"String shot, aim for it's tail!" Crescent commanded and Pillanter obeyed. Pillanter shot a long string of silk outwards, catching Matrike's tail. "Perfect! Now yank it!"

Before Pillanter could pull, Matrike ran it's tail against the ground, igniting a flame and burning away the string.

Crescent quickly pulled all the information Matrike together and tried to devise a strategy. "Alright, Matrike can only use fire attacks if it lights up it's tail and reaches it's face. We gotta stop it from relighting it's tail and then we can attack." He tells the Pillanter who nods back at him.

Matrike moves the tip of it's tail to it's face once more and sends out another flame at Pillanter and Crescent, which they avoid. "Now!" He picks up Pillanter and tosses him into the air. Pillanter turns around and fires a larger string of silk at Matrike, catching it's tail and wrapping around. Pillanter aims itself so it falls near a branch, catching the string and slowing it's descent. The String Shot keeps Pilanter in air, still attached to Matrike.

Crescent runs over and pulls on Pillanter, yanking up Matrike into the air, by it's tail. He positions Pillanter to fire another String Shot toward the branch, tying it well enough so Matrike remains hanging there when he pulls Pillanter away.

He hugs Pillanter tightly, "great job, buddy!" He stops the hug when he sees that Pillanter is glowing. "What? Your evolving already?" He sets Pillanter down and takes out his camera, taking a quick picture of the evolving Pillanter with Matrike hanging behind it. As the glowing becomes dimmer and dimmer, Crescent sees Pillanter's next evolution and activates his PokeDeck on it.

"_Cashell, the Caccoon Pokemon. After gaining enough experience a Pillanter covers it's body in silk and nearby items to protect it untill it's second stage is finished. Cashell's delicate caccoon don't allow it to use many moves other than Harden and Tackle._"

Crescent kneels down, "looks like we both helped eachother out." He tightens his gloved hand and an empty Pokeball appears, "wanna come with me?"

"Shel~ll!" It cries out, happily. Crescent taps Cashell with the Pokeball and it captures it. "You rest up for a bit," he says the pokeball.

He crosses his arms at Matrike, "now what the heck am I suppose to do with you?" He scratches the back of his neck, thinking. Finally he sighs and breaks off the silk holding Matrike and lets it down. Matrike shakes the dirt off itself and begins to lick itself, bathing. "Guess you don't like getting dirty, huh?"

Matrike nodded, "Maa~aatrike."

He slams his fist into his hand, "that's why you don't like being outside of your pokeball!"

Matrike nods once more, walking closer to Crescent. Out of habit, he pulls back scared if Matrike, but soon he feels Matrike's fur and begins to pet it gently, causing it to purr. "So we're good then?" He wipes off some dirt from Matrike, "just have to clean you a lot." He nods to her, "a deal then? You fight for me, I'll keep you clean. Deal?" He held out his hand toward the feline.

Matrike paused for a moment then shook his hand with it's tail. Holding out his PokeDeck he recalled Matrike, and started walking, heading toward Stark Town once more.

He took many pictures as he walked through the forest, also collecting data on Cashell's next evolutions, wondering what his will evolve into. As he reaches the edge of the forest he notices another training sprawled out of the ground, clutching a glowing stone.


	3. Chapter One Sunset

**Pokemon Eclipse**

_Waiting in the depths of nothingness, gazing anger upon existance. Waiting for its moment, Elkepio never sleeps._

Meanwhile

"_Matrike is known as the Match Cat Pokemon,_" Korona begins to read. "_When angered it strikes it's tail against the ground igniting it to a flame. It's hard to train because of it's strong stubborn will._" Korona imagines having a Matrike.'

Korona is in an imaginary battle, "Matrike! Go!" He sends out his Matrike, the other trainer sends out an Oddish. His Matrike looks way cooler than a normal Matrike in his fantasy. The Oddish uses Razor Leaf. "Matrike! Fire Bomb!" He commands an imaginary move. Matrike jumps up into the air and sends a huge Fireball annihilating the ficticious Pokemon.

Korona flips the page, "_Spasish, the swimming bird Pokemon. In water it swims as if it were flying in air. It likes to feel the air rush against it's body as it jumps out of the water, and can move pretty well on land. Spasish can vary in training levels because their personalities are usually different._"

Korona imagines battling with a Spasish. He sends it out and the other trainer sends out a Geodude. The Geodude uses Tackle and Korona has it's Spasish jump up avoiding the attack and flip it's tail around, smashing into Geodude into a wall. The Geodude gets back up and uses Rock Throw. He commands Spasish to use Headbutt and it breaks the rocks heading for it. He then commands another non-existant move, Hurricane. Water engulfs Geodude and Korona smiles.

"So far Spasish is my main goal.. one more to go." He turns the page, "_Balum, the Grass-Snake Pokemon. It tries to stay out of trouble by digging into the ground. It leaves it's leaves and grass like attributes above the ground to absorb Sunlight. Balum's are very easy to train because they tend to avoid the conflict of not pleasing someone else._"

Korona begins to imagine a battle with a Balum, but the other trainer steps close so he can see. It was Terra, who was a girl that he tutored and lived next door to him.

"I hope you're not planning on picking Balum, Mr. Homeschool!" She started. That's the one I'm gonna' pick!"

He snapped out of his daydream to see Terra standing in his doorway. He always liked her, but never really had a social life. He always chose to avoid the subject, but not today.

"Actually," Korona said as he turned the pages back. " Maybe Splasish, or Matrike. I've been studing my choices, and so far, I've developed moves for those two based on their biological entireity. I was having trouble with Balum though. Digging in the ground to heal itself is kinda the only thing I've read about it so far."

"Just like you to try and plan everything out way more than most people."

"Yeah... anyway, I have to tell you something..."

"Okay! What is it?"

"I've always thought you were-"

Just before he could finish Terra's watch started to beep. She pushed a button and made it stop.

"Sorry, just my alarm telling me I should be sleeping. Can't have myself being late for tomorrow, but go ahed and tell me what you were going to say."

"I've always thought you were, Uh," Korona changed his mind, so he changed what he was going to say, "Going to be a great Pokemon Trainer!"

"What do you mean?"

"I've toutored you for four years now, and I know you'd be great in battles."

"You really think so? I've been wondering what I was going to do when I got my

pokemon. I was thinking either Contests, or Survival Challenges, but you think I'd do good in battles?"

"Youd master it for sure!"

"Thankyou Korona! What would I do without you!" Terra runs home excited about the advice that Korona gave to her, oblivious to what he really wanted to say.

"I'm such a loser!" Korona said to himself as he planted his face into his hand.

He took out a peice of paperand began to write. He started with the move Huricane. He wrote in detail on how a splashish could learn this powerful move. Then he went to Matrike's Fire Bomb, but was beginning to doze off.

"Korona! Wake up!" His father shouted. " Wernt you soppose to get your Pokemon

today?" Korona looked up at his dad who was wearing an apron.

"What?" Then Korona looks at the tame noticing he was late. He grabbed up the huricane paper and the unfinished Fire Bomb paper, and ran out the door. He made it to the Professor's lab, but before he could knock Terra opens the door holding a pokeball. There was a blond kid wearing a trench coat behind her with a pokeball as well, but had no interest in Terra or Korona, he was just being blocked by the conversation in the doorway.

"So did you get your Balum?" Korona asked.

"No, it actually wasn't there," she answered. "I picked Splasish."

"Oh, Spasish," Korona takes the Hurricane Paper out. "Can you teach it this somtime?"

Terra reads the paper for a bit, "this seems like a very powerful move, thank you Korona." She hugs him tight, Korona blushes and felt as if he was melting.

"Aww," the blonde kid starts. "How sweet. But could you move now?"

"Sorry," Terra says as she releases the hug and runs off. Korona lays on the ground for a bit and watches the clouds. The blond kid steps over him, laughing a bit. After awhile Korona got up and walked into the lab.

"Ah, Korona Ranu, your late." Professor Furn starts. "Come for your pokemon? Which one have you decided on?"

"I was going with either Spasish or Matrike."

"That's good cause Balum got away. So which one?"

"Well Terra picked Spasish so I'll take Matrike."

"Such a shame you couldn't get Matrike, someone already got that one. Shame indeed.. I think you would've been a much better trainer for that one." Furn glares a bit upwards towards his broken window.

"Oh then that's all my choices," Korona pouted. "I guess I stayed up too late studying."

"I usually have a back up pokemon, Pachirisu."

"Well any pokemon is better than no pokemon I suppose."

"That's exactly what the blonde fellow before you said when I gave it to him. The early bird does get the worm-"

"or in this case the pokemon," Korona added sadly.

"Thing about early birds though.. I guess they break windows."

"Huh?"

"Long story."

"I had so many plans, what am I going to do now?"

"Korona, I knew your mom. I respected her a lot. We used to go to school together. We even became Pokemon professors at the same time. I'm going to do you a favor. You come back here tomorrow and I'll give you my Eevee. She's a little old but I'm sure you can find use for her till you get a pokemon of your own."

"Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Yes, I would. Now I'm sorry I have to get back to work. Make sure you stop here tomorrow."

Korona says goodbye and leaves. He stops by his house to get his PokeDeck that his mom left him so he could study pokemon like he did every afternoon. He was hoping to have a pokemon by now though.

"I'll make you proud," he says hoping somehow his mother could hear him. "I promise."

He walks to the forest to find some pokemon he had never seen before. He walks through the forest a bit untill he notices some strange noises. It was Balum and it seemed to be in bad shape. It looked scared and seemed to be lost. Korona watched it for a bit, he thought maybe he should catch it. Professor Furn wouldn't have to give him that Eevee. He loaded the only Pokeball he had into the PokeDeck and waited.

Suddenly a Pillanter squirmed behind Balum and took a bite from one of the leaves from it's tail. Balum's eyes widened with pain, "Baall!" It shouted and then shot off into the air. It landed infront of the Pillanter it got startled and ran off.

Korona points his hand out towards the Pillanter and a beam shoots out at it, "_Pillanter, the catterpillar pokemon. It eats all the time, ecspecially when it's nervous. Sometimes doesn't pay attention to what it eats. Green represents food to this pokemon. It is known for it's extremely fast evolution._"

_That Balum's pretty pathetic,_ he thought again. _I'll never get anywhere with that. If _

_Pillanter can send it running without even attacking it._

Then he hears a crash and the growl of a Zangoose. Korona quickly felt sorry for the Balum and quickly ran after it. The Zangoose Leer'd at the Balum and it the Balum just quivered in fear. "That Zangoose must think it's a Seviper." Zangoose uses Quick Attack, sending Balum into a tree. Balum was badly injured, Zangoose followed up with a False Swipe. Balum was now on the edge of fainting.

"Balum, snap out of it!" Zangoose charges up a Flamethrower. Korona ran up and grabbed Balum and ran into the woods. He kept running untill he noticed he didn't have any ground beneath his feet. They lost the Zangoose but now were tumbling down a small cliff.

Korona got up, "Balum you have to heal yourself," he coached.

"Bawl?"

"First Dig like this," Korona starts digging a hole. "Do it with me, ready? 1-2 Dig, 1-2 Dig." Korona just keeps digging hoping Balum will copy him. Balum just watches. "Come on buddy, you have to do this. It'll help you."

"Baaall?"

"1-2 Dig, 1-2 Dig." He glances over and see's Balum digging a hole, Korona smiles and digs aswell. "1-2 Dig - wow this is tiring." He looked over to see Balum was now burying itself, "very good." Korona sits in his hole and looks at the sky, "very very good."

A few hours pass as Korona watches the sky and suddenly Balum pokes it's head up. "Bawll?"

"Feeling better?"

"Baall!"

"It's getting late," Korona stands up and brushes the dirt off himself. "Guess I'm heading home now."

"Bal~ll?" Balum looked at Korona and went up to him, "bawll!"

"What? No, I can't stay, sorry."

"Bawwll-Bawll!" Balum tugs on his pant leg, slithers around it's hole and back to Korona. "Ba~all!"

"Yeah.." again a little confused. "You made that."

Balum looked like he was getting frustrated, but then got an idea. "Bal-al-um!" Then he scooped some dirt. "Bal-al-um!" Then dug again.

"You want me to dig more?"

"Baall!"

"Okay, 1-2 dig!"

"Bal-al-um!"

They both dug untill a metal square was reveiled. "Wow what is this?"

"Baluum!"

Balum presses it's face to the middle of it, "Baawll!" Then it looks at Korona, "Bal~ll?"

Korona looks at the center and it's a window. He peers in and can see a dim blue glow. "Looks like something's in there."

"Bawwl!"

He examines the square and notices a handle. He pulls it for a bit but is having trouble. Balum got behind him and pulled on his shirt. It came out open and a cloud of dust flew out. A stone was inside. The stone had strange markings that were like suns all over it. Korona looked at it for a bit then reached in and tugged on it.

After a few pulls the stone came loose, it was somewhat heavy and oval shaped. He looked at it for a bit untill he heard the growl of Zangoose. Balum hid behind Korona, Korona looked around for an escape but Zangoose used Double Team and surrounded them with copies.

Korona grabbed Balum and draped him on his shoulders. He started to climb a tree and then Zangoose came after him. But Korona lost grip of the stone and it fell on the Zangoose's head, knocking it out. Korona was shocked on how he was able to escape but did not hesitate to jump down, grab the stone and run. He made his way to the edge of the forest, he was tired and plopped down. He dozed off, clutching the stone. Balum began digging and gently pushed Korona into the small hole, thinking it would help then buried itself in it's own hole.

The last rays of sunlight hit the firmly clenched stone and it began to glow.


	4. Chapter One Shadow of a Arrival

**_"Shadow of Arrival"_**

_In the beginning there was nothing, yet Elkepio watched._

* * *

Crescent sighs and kneels down, shaking the sleeping trainer. "It's not safe to sleep in the woods, wake your ass up."

"Not so hard Terra, It's my first time.." Korona mumbles in his sleep.

Upon hearing the name Terra, Crescent automatically cringes. "Matrike.. use Scratch."

Matrike nods her head and lifts up her paw, showing off her nails. "Trike!" She scratches the sleeping trainer in the face.

Korona wakes up thinking zangoose, but after not seeing zangoose he is relieved. He clenches his face for a moment ans rolls over.

"That hurts dad..." he says in a mumble. "What's for breakfast?"

Crescent raises his eyebrows at the trainer, confused. "Tree bark and moomoo milk."

"Can you just reheat some of the left over spaghetti?" He mumbles and suddenly his Balum pops its head out of the ground excited.

"BAL!"

"I don't think you wanna eat that Spaghetti.." Crescent mutters looking at Balum.

"You know I'm lactose intolerant, and I don't thing bark is a good idea for food." Korona rambles."the spaghetti will do fine."

"Bal!"

Crescent shrugs, picks up Balum and places the pokemon on the trainer's face. "Here you go, eat up."

"BAL!" Korona turns around to see his Balum in his face and scrambles backward a little startled.

"Told you, you wouldn't wanna eat it," Crescent comments, enjoying the scene in front of him.

Korona looked around seeing he was not in his room. "Almost forgot about this," he looks at Crescent. "That's not spaghetti, that's a Balum.."

"Bal?" Balum starts to look sad.

"Each time you mentioned spaghetti.. which was a lot. Balum responded." Crescent said with a chuckle.

"What do you mean?"

"You kept saying it in your sleep and Balum kept popping it's head up," Crescent said motioning to Balum.

"Maybe it's hungry."

"Then feed it."

"I don't have any spaghetti.."

"BAL!"

"You have some left over at your house, remember?"

"But that's all the way over there, and I'm... well... you know."

"..An idiot? Kind of gathered that."

Crescent started walking toward Stark City. "Anyway, I was just waking you up to let ya know that Beedrills usually come out at night, so better be prepared."

"Beedrills? Eh I think I'm alergic.." Korona gets up and runs after him with Balum following. "Name's Korona and I guess this guy wants to be called spaghetti. How 'bout you?"

"Me handle's Crescent Kindorushi, but I go by CK." He stopped walking and pointed toward his Matrike, "this is Matrike.. she's quite the hot head."

"So I've read.."

He looks down at Balum, "just starting out? Me too, on my way Stark Town for my first Badge."

"Yeah! Me too!" They walked off to stark town, reaching it by the time the sun rises.

Crescent looked around at Stark Town, it wasn't anything too impressive, he thought. "Wonder if there's a Contest Hall here.. hope not. Heard Terra mention something about them, wouldn't wanna run into her."

"Terra?" Korona blushed. "You know her? what do you think about her?" He asked hoping he wouldn't have a romantic rival.

"To be honest I try not to think about her whenever I can."

Korona was relieved that the not running into her wasn't just him being shy. "Well, I kinda coached her to go for battling... she excelled in studies like that."

Crescent sighed, "means we'll probably run into her, then huh?"

"I could only hope so..." Korona startled himself with the accidental honesty, "Only because I tutored her, so it's kinda' like she's the fruit of my labors." He realized how dumb that sounded but refused to correct it as long as he didn't suspect that he liked her.

"So, you like her then? If you two get together, just keep her away from me is all I'm asking, deal?"

"I didn't say that.." Korona blushed.

Crescent laughed, "alright, we'll play make believe then." He looked around a bit more, wondering where the Gym was.

"Hey, I have to call professor furn real quick! you mind?"

Crescent shrugged, "go for it."

Korona calls Prof. Furn and explains everything. "Well I guess you won't be needing ol' Vee." He laughs, "so that Balum turned up. It's going to have a great adventure ahead with you, so don't forget this." He puts Balum's pokeball in a machine. In seconds it's teleported to Korona. "Oh and one more thing.." the Professor adds.

"What is it?" Korona asks worried.

"Tell Crescent as soon as he wins some prize money that he owes me a new window! Back to work, and good luck Korona!" the screen shuts off.

Crescent pets Matrike's fur as he waits for Korona to return, "you do have really nice fur Matty.. I can see why you don't like it getting dirty."

Korona pulls out a pokeball. "Hey spaghetti, I got something for you!" Spaghetti freaks out at the sight of the pokeball it is frightened.

Crescent laughs at Balum's strange reaction to it's own Pokeball, "that's the opposite of Matty, she loves being in those."

"It's probably how it got away. Usually Balum aren't that cowardly, I think he's got some serious phobia issues to work out."

Crescent looked closely at Balum, "wonder what happened to make it so nervous."

"I doubt we'll ever know..."

He looked over from Balum to in front of them, where the Gym was. He stood up, "there's the Gym." Crescent picks up his Matrike, petting it causing it to begin to purr. He looks forward at his first Gym, starting to get nervous but hides it from Korona. "Excited?" he asks.

"Well, not entirely..." Korona states, "I haven't battled yet."

Crescent chuckles as he recalls his first battle, a wild pokemon and him teaming up to battle his only pokemon. That was his first victory and yet his first loss.

"I don't think spaghetti knows how to fight." He looks over at Spaghetti disdainfully. "Are you sure you want to be called Spaghetti?"

"Bal!!" it replied excited about it's name.

Crescent chuckled again and rolled hiss eyes. He looked over at Korona, "what pokemon is that anyway?" He asked, nodding toward the egg.

"I'm not quite sure. All I know is that a pokemon is inside of it. I don't know how it was a stone before... someone probably stole the stone and replaced it with an egg."

Crescent laughed at Korona's seriousness, "yeah you hear about it all the time. Stones being stolen and replaced by pokemon," he chuckles at his own joke. "Thieves must be making a killing with all those stones."

"You don't understand!" Korona thinks for a bit. "I think it might have been a Packus!" He turns on his pokedeck."_Packus, the pack rat pokemon,_" it started. "_It collects objects. When it sees an object it likes it replaces it with something that looks similar. Packus are known to steal children's balls replacing them with pokemon eggs that they have stolen in the past._"

"If you know so much you'd know Packus' stay away from bug pokemon, so a forest is unlikely for them to be in."

"I know that you dolt!" But I fell asleep in the field!" Korona replied.

"Well then sure it could've been a Packus.. had you been on the lower continent.. " He said annoyed then added under his breath, "dumb ass."

"I know!" he added then thought a bit." Wait..." he read more info on the packus. "Yeah I knew... just um maybe paranoid... what do you think it is then genius? I was holding a stone, now I'm holding an egg... that stone must of been an artifact, I found it in a weird box."

"I also know that Packus's favorite diet is Chess," he announced matter-of-factly.

Korona then realized that Crescent wasn't too bright. " You mean cheese"

"That doesn't make sense, why would Packus play cheese against other pokemon?"

"Diet means food you idiot! you cant eat chess...wait..." Korona imagines eating chess pieces."well you can, but it's much better played than eaten."

"Depends on the cheese"

"Let's set this straight! Chess and cheese are two different things!"

"I know that!" He yelled back. "They're just really close in spelling!"

"Spelling and meaning are two different things. Let me put this in a way you can understand."

Crescent narrowed his eyes at Korona, becoming annoyed.

"Packus-eat-cheese-no-play-Chess" He continues to talk like a cave man.

"Don't you think that's a little condimenting?"

Korona raised his eyebrow, trying to resist correcting him. He failed. "Condescending."

"Ack! Now you sound like Terra! What's with you two and water?"

Korona is puzzled on how someone can be so dim. "Condescending! Not Condensating."

Crescent threw his arms into the air, annoyed. "What's hair shampoo have to do with this!?"

Korona gave up. He looked at balum who was copying Korona. Matrike leaped from it's arms and walked over to Balum, as it mimic'ed Korona. Balum's eyes widen, and it hides using Korona as a shield. "Balum, how 'bout you go into your pokeball?" Balum sees the pokeball and gets scared again. "It's not that scary!" Matrike looks up at Korona who was interrupting it's playing time and starts rubbing it's tail against the ground.

Crescent sees this and smirks, deciding not to warn Korona. "W-why are you smiling?"

He shrugs in response and turns away as Matrike pulls it's tail, now on fire to it's face and take a breath, sending a flame in Korona's direction. "Good girl.." Crescent says under his breath.

"Whats that stange sound?" Korona turns around as fire blows into his face and then he falls over.

Crescent kneels down and pets Matrike, "I'm starting to really like you Matty. Your so cool." Matrike purrs from the attention.

"Hospital... I need a hospital!" Korona utters as his balum starts burying him in dirt thinking it'll watches Balum save it's trainer by putting out the flame and laughs.

"Oh come it's no worse than a Sunburn!" Crescent taunts.

From inside the gym, the third starting Trainer from Gaiville, Shadow, is leaving, happy with his badge. He walks out to the nice warm spring daylight to see two other trainers out side the gym waiting to try their luck but without even saying a thing keeps on walking as if the wasn't even there but changes his mind and looks at them for a few before smirking "You two won't make it here.. you should just go home."

Crescent narrows his eyes at Shadow. "My Matrike just KO'd a trainer, I'll win for sure!"

"But I'm still awake.." Korona struggles to say and begins to stand up. "Besides, it's my destiny... and I'm not going to let some punk like you set me off."

Shadow looks down to the trainer rising from the ground and replies "and you call yourself a trainer?"

"Well yeah, he's a lost cause," Crescent nods, agreeingly.

"I bet I can take you on! Crescent step back!" Balum acts all tough too. "Spaghetti go!"

Shadow turn to leave but stops upon hearing Korona's challenge."You think you can beat me, young one?"

Crescent looks down at Balum, who was still covering Korona with dirt. "Korona.. you'll lose."

"Spaghetti! stop putting dirt on my shoes!"Spaghetti stops, "we're in a battle! Go!"

Shadow chuckles to himself and looks at Korona. "You won't even touch me even if you battle me together," he says nodding at Crescent.

Matrike growls at Shadow, "better watch it. It'd be two-on-one." He paused before continuing,"though fighting alongside him.. pisses me off a bit."

Korona moves his arm back, halting Crescent. "No! I'm kicking his ass!" He argues and Balum mimics the anger. "My mother started her research by being the most cut-throat trainer in the world!" Korona points to Shadow, "you're going down!" Balum jumps in the middle ready to do as he is told.

"I like my chances. Go Pachirisu, Go Farfetch'd!" Shadow pulled down his trench coat sleeve to reveil a Black and Red PokeDeck with a big red S on it. Opening his palm, two Pokeballs appeared which he immediatly threw out, releasing Pokemon.

Crescent looked down at Matrike who was ready to battle, but held it back. Reaching for a pokeball he throws out Cashell, "your gonna regret this!" Cashell appears on the ground, eagerly awaiting it's first battle.

"I doubt that," Shadow replies, crossing his arms.

Korona looks at Crescent with anger." What are you doing?! This guy is under my skin!" Balum sees the two pokemon and gets scared and digs.

Crescent ignored Korona's complaints, "Harden!" He commanded and Cashell starts to shine and become harder.

"Farfetch'd, use Aerial Ace on Cashell!" Farfetch'd swoops high into the air and comes down hard on the opponent. "Pachirisu, use Charge." Pachirisu's cheeks light up and it begins to gather energy, sparks coming off it's body from everywhere.

Farfetch'd's attack slams into Cashell hard, close to fainting. "String shot to slow it down!" Cashell regroups itself and fires off a long thread of silk onto Farfetch'd, tying it's legs up a bit.

Korona pans through his PokeDeck for his balum's moves. He sends a beam to his Balum to see his moves compared to the moves a normal balum knows and the only move it has is a move called synt-root which is the move it was useing. A normal Balum had a lot more moves. "What?" Korona starts to get a bit stressed, "come on Balum can''t you do anything?"

"Harden again, while it's slowed down!" Crescent commands, not realizing how weakened his pokemon is glows again, more dimly this time and hardens it's body little more.

"Farfetch'd! Use Slash," Farfetch'd wing glows white and it swipes at Cashell.

"Spaghetti! You have to do something!"

The attacks takes Cashell's remaining HP and it faints. Crescent holds out his palm, a beam of light withdrawing Cashell to it's Pokeball.

Suddenly Spaghetti's leafs disapear under ground.

"Your up, Matrike." Matrike eagerly leaps forward toward Farfetch'd, dragging it's tail . "Maa~a.." She jumps into the air and begins spinning , her whole body turnings into a Flame Wheel. It slams into Farfetch'd, hard. "Trike!" It cries out, landing back on the ground.

"Spaghetti! Where are you?" Korona looks around for a bit worried."You better not be tunneling off!"

"Farfetch'd return.. Go Ghosrit!" Opening his plam a beam of light sucks in Farfetch'd and sends out Ghosrit. "Ghosrit use Confusion!" Ghosrit's eyes glow and a purple aura forms around Matrike and slams it to the ground.

"Ghosrit?"Crescent says alloud, he opens his palm and sends a beam of light onto Ghosrit. "_Ghosrit, the illusion pokemon. Ghosrit's are very hard to catch due to their unique ability which allows them to make copies of themself and each use different attacks. In order to defeat a Ghosrit, you must defeat all of it's copies before it can be fainted_."

Matrike cries out in pain, but forces itself to stand back up. "Maa.."

Suddenly Spaghetti jumps out of the ground holding a rock in its mouth flying tward the Pachirisu. "What!?" Korona is instantly suprised that his balum is attacking.

Crescent's anger gets the best of him and he ignores Matrike's cries, "Ember!" He orders and Matrike obeys, rubbing it's tail against the ground, raising it to mouth and sending out a small flame at Ghosrit.

"Pachirisu use Discharge on Balum!" A spark comes from Pachiriasu's body and heads in the flying snake's direction.

Spaghetti flies through the air being hit by the sparks. It shows some signs of pain but through determination it drops the rock right on Pachirisu's head knocking it out.

"Ghosrit, Confusion again!" Ghosrit's eyes glow once more and it takes control of Matrike and slams it down.

Korona recalls the incident with the Zangoose and realizes that it just copied the rock accident into a move. "How did he do that?" Suddenly the pokedeck analyzes Balum instantly.

It shows a read out of Balum's stats. Something about this Balum was different. It was an ability that was not the same as other Balums. It explains Balums in the wild have an ability called Learn. In which helps it analyze any action and develope it into its own way, while other Balums born in captivity it has an ability called Overgrow.

"Pachirasu Return... Go Farfetch'd!" He returns Pachirasu and out flies Farfecth'd.

"Spaghetti! Synth-root!" Balum tries to dig, but by using a learned attack for the first time he is too tired and has to wait a bit before he does something again.

"Farfetch'd! Use Aerial Ace on Balum!"Farfetch'd swoops high into the air and comes down hard on the weakened Balum.

Matrike cries out again from Ghosrit's second attack, but this time gets up quicker, a flame appearing on it's tail even though it hasn't rubbed against the ground. "Rage.." Crescent notices, "Flame Wheel, while Farfetch'd is distracted!" Matrike nods and rushes at Farfetch'd from behind, leaping into the air and becoming a large fire ball which crashes into Farfetch'd KO'ing it. The recoil from the final attack faints Matrike, though.

Balum gets slammed back and struggles for a moment but gives up and faints.

Crescent runs over and picks up Matrike, "hey.. Matty.. you alright?" All she could do was a very weak meow. Crescent sighs, his first trainer match lost.

"Spaghetti! NOO!" he watches spaghetti fall back and it looked as if he were in pain. Korona runs up to his Balum concerned.

Shadow opens his palm and recalls Farfetch'd and Ghosrit. Shadow nods to his beaten opponents "You did better then I thought.. maybe you can win here." Shadow turns and walks away leaving his rivals at the Gym entrance.

Crescent cradles his Matrike in his arms for a bit before asking Korona, "where's the PokeCenter?"

"Dont ask me..." Korona picks up his Balum.

Crescent debated with the thought of commenting on Korona's knowledge of everything but decided against it. He started walking away from the gym, searching for PokeCenter.

"Where are you going?"

He turned back and glared, "where do you think!?"

"Don't you see?"

Crescent turns and sees the PokeCenter right next to the Gym and mutters something that couldn't be heard before going into it. Korona picks up his balum and walks in aswell. Upon opening the door's they were surprised to see how many people were inside. He could hear other people complaining, _"what do you mean there's no room? My Pokemon need healed!"_,_"I just lost at the Gym, they need some potions!", "Frank is living in my foot!"_

Crescent sighed again and walked back out, deciding to try and heal them himself. When Crescent stepped out he noticed that Korona was burring Spaghetti."Oh my god!" Crescent ran over to Korona, "I know I said some mean things.. but I never wanted it to die."

Korona looked at Crescent. "You do know that's how he heals, right?"

Crescent looked shocked, "by dying?!"

Korona made a fist but quickly released it. "Yes... he dies, so you have to bury it and it becomes a zombie." He says in sarcasm.

Crescent nods as if understanding it, "so it becomes a ghost type?"

"No you moron, who ever heard of a pokemone dieing and becomeing a new pokemon."

Crescent shrugged, "there is a ghost type, y'know. Explain that, mister smarty shorts."

"For one; I'm not wearing shorts, two; No one really knows where ghost type come from, they just call them ghosts because of their biology, and three; the name's -school... at least that's what Terra always calls me when she is joking. Which might I add, she is way more funny than you, and less of an idiot... didn't you see that the pokecenter was full? If I were trecking around with her instead of you, then maybe I would have won that damned are probally the reason I.. -"

"What?! How can you blame me for that?!"

"..will never make my mom proud. Now go away!"

"You wouldn't have lasted at all, if I wasn't there!" He scoffed, "only thing your Balum did was drop a rock on Pachirasu then faint after Farfetch'd attacked it."

"Did you see Balum was awesome out there? Lets be realistic, you and I should have never have met."

"For one it's said me and you, for B, Balum wasn't even there for half the battle! And fourthly, You did one attack and passed out!"

"Yes but my Balum pretty much pulled a move out of it's ass.. and next time you correct my grammer, make sure you correct something wrong with something right, not vice-versa."

"Augh, your just as annoying as Terra but atleast SHE'S cute."

"Don't you ever say thing about her, you said you hate her... I love her so just... uh shut up!" Korona slams some two revives into Crescent's hand, "and thank me for getting these for you with my allowence from a guy in a weird costume with a big X on it for way too high of a price."

Crescent stuffs the revives into his pocket, but the thought of Terra made him even more mad and said something before he could stop himself. "Your probably right. You couldn't make your mom proud, if you were my son I'd be disapointed!"

Years of suppressed nerd rage released itself as Korona punched Crescent right in the face.

Crescent stumbled back but didn't retaliate, he deserved it. After a few moments of looking at how exhausted Matrike was, he grabbed one of the revives and uses it on Matrike, waking it up and restoring some of it's health. "Thanks.." He said, turning away.

"Sorry about that..." Korona says quietly. "You're kind of right... I did let her down." Korona sits down.

He sat Matrike so she could begin bathing herself and sat down beside her. "I didn't really mean that, just sort of came out. I didn't really know your mom but I think she'd be happy with how your turning out.. not the best taste in girls, I'll admit. But your pretty smart, so that counts for something."

"I wouldnt know so much if my mom hadn't died," Korona started. "The day I found out I decided I was going to follow in her foot steps. I became my own teacher, never left the house much untill the day I would become a Pokemon trainer like her." Korona sighed, "first my dad was a little worried and didnt want me to quit public school, and expecally didn't want me to basically be my own teacher, but I showed him when I excelled past the knowledge of my studies.... and now all that hard work.... over... done, gone."

"It's just one loss, doesn't really mean anything. Besides you can't follow your mom's footsteps cause then you'll be your mom.. which means you had sex with your dad to create you. So ask yourself, do you really wanna have sex with your dad?"

Korona looked at Crescent thinking of how much of an idiot he was, but strangely got what he meant. "You're right.. I dont have to be like my mom to make her proud, I just have to be myself. and succeed at my own dreams."

"Well yeah you can go that way too," He looked down at his Matrike then to Korona's Balum. "And it's not like you'll be alone, you'll always have Spaghetti."

"..and maybe you're not that bad either."

Crescent smiles a bit at that, "but I don't think being a Trainer is my thing. The whole battling thing is okay but seeing them injured.. I just don't like it. I can't bear to see Matrike like that again."

"What about survival challenges?" Korona asked. " I dont know much about them, but they are another option."

Crescent thinks about it for a moment then shakes his head, "Matrike hates getting dirty, she'd hate that."

"Spaghetti's so afraid of everything, I couldnt see it in a contest in front of so many people."

"I dunno.. it's pretty smart. I never saw that Stone Drop attack it used on Pachirasu."

"It sure got lucky with that one.. we were running from a zangoose. And I dropped the stone on its head by accident. I think he just used that as an attack."

"It was pretty strong too, knocked Pachirasu out in one hit."

Korona looks at Matty, "She sure moves with grace, I think she'd do great in contests."

Crescent tried to imagine Matrike in a contest and chuckled cause it seemed perfect. "She probably would but I don't know how that works, I think she's kind of funny looking to be honest," he says making Matty growl a little.

"Better than spaghetti.."

"What about Survival Challenges like you mentioned, for Balum? The way it battled seemed like it was a good strategist."

"I don't know, when I found him he didnt even know hoe to use synth-root"

"Does now.. and Rock Drop. Might wanna consider it."

Korona thinks a bit. "Maybe we should go check out each thing and we'll come back here when we're done. Then we'll decide if we go for them or not."

He considers it for a moment and agrees, "should we go our seperate ways then?"

"Make sure we meet here when we're done though." Korona adds, "with our battling

skills, we might survive our trips around the world together."

Crescent chuckles, "alright, I'll see ya later then."

They both part ways.


	5. Chapter Three Battle of Beauty

((The Story may proceed like this, seperate chapters for Korona and Crescent and then followed by a few chapters of them together. Any questions feel free to add them to reviews or send us messages. If you become an avid reader and reviewer you may show up in the story sometime if you'd like.))

* * *

After parting ways with Korona and deciding to check out the Pokemon Contest, Crescent suddenly realized.. he was way out of his league. "Aiyaa.." He sighed and plopped down on the ground, Matrike prancing over to him. "Matty.. I can't enter you in a contest." Matrike looked down sadly, "I really want to, but there's no way I can win one of those."

Matrike turns her head, confused. "Ma~aa?"

Crescent shakes his head and pets Matrike's head, "I don't know the first thing about Contests."

"Maybe you should watch one then," said a voice from behind Crescent and Matrike, they both turned to see an older man staring down at them.

"W-who're you?"

"Call me Cahl," the old man said smiling and holding out his hand. "I happen to be expert on contests. I've won all the Master Ranks and even took part in the last World Festival."

"Really?" Crescent said, not really impressed, "awesome."

The man chuckles, "boy, have you ever watched a Pokemon Contest?"

Crescent shook his head, "I don't really see the point in watching some trainers and their pokemon show off their looks, seems a bit stupid."

The man narrowed his eyes at Crescent and smacked him on the head with his cane. "Allow me to guess, you've just received your Pokemon, haven't you?"

The trainer rubbed his head and nodded, "yeah, so?"

"You have no bond whatsoever with your Matrike," he said pointing his cane at the cat pokemon.

"W-what's that suppose to mean?"

The man leaned down and held a hand toward Matrike who looked nervous for a second then walked over to the Cahl and allowed him to pet her. "She was just in a battle recently wasn't she? Your first one perhaps?"

Crescent was beginning to look annoyed at the man, "yeah."

The man pet Matrike for a few more seconds before standing up and reaching to his belt, pulling out a Pokeball. "I challenge you to a battle."

"I'll pass," Crescent said standing up. "I might not know Matrike too well right now but I know she doesn't like to get dirty and she was just injured."

"Don't worry about the injuries, I just used a Hyper Potion on her," the man said with a nod. "And by the look in her eyes, she wants to prove herself."

Crescent turned to Matrike, "you wanna battle him Matty?"

"I'll even give you the advantage. Pokeball, go!" He tossed the pokeball out, as it opened up the entire area was filled with blue smoke, most likely he had Seals on the ball. "Ivysaur!"

As the smoke cleared, Crescent saw the second evolution one of the very first Grass Starter Pokemon. "Ivysaur? Those are pretty rare now' a days." Pointing his palm at Ivysaur he took a reading, "Ivysaur, the Seed Pokemon and evolved Form of Bulbasaur. When the bulb on its back grows large, it appears to lose the ability to stand on its hind legs. When the bud on its back starts swelling, a sweet aroma wafts to indicate the flower's coming bloom."

"Matrike, ember!" Crescent commanded, knowing he had type advantage over Ivysaur. Matrike rubbed its tail against the ground and raised it to its mouth, exhaling a small stream of fire.

Cahl laughed, "Dodge!"

Ivysaur leaned down and shot out vines from its back. The vines slammed onto the ground, pushing Ivysaur into the air, avoiding the fire attack.

Crescent smirked, "wait till it falls and use Scratch!"

Ivysaur began to feel gravity's pull and was forced downward, right toward Matrike's claw. "Sweet Scent!" Cahl yelled.

Ivysaur shook its bulb and pink powder began to fall down toward Matrike, Crescent had to admit with the lighting it looked very cool. "Stay Focused, Matty!"

"Takedown..." Cahl muttered to his pokemon and Ivysaur nodded, forcing itself to go faster and crash into Matrike. Upon impact, Matrike is sent down into the ground and Ivysaur uses Matrike's body to cushion the fall.

As Matrike begins to regain itself, Cahl points to Ivysaur, "Sunny Day!"

"Risky move there gramps. Sunny Day also increases Fire Type moves," Crescent decides to mention.

"I'm well aware, but it helps speed up the next attack."

Ivysaur looks upward, the clouds parting and the sunlight pouring down on Ivysaur, its bulb glowing. Crescent knew in an instant what it was planning, "Matty, watch out! It's about to use Solar Beam!"

"Don't assume so much, boy!" Cahl says grinning.

Ivysaur takes the sunlight in and its bulb glows even brighter and soon its entire body glows and it evolves into Venasaur. "In order to evolve into Venasaur, the bulb must get enough Sunlight to bloom entirely."

"Sunny Day to force an evolution?"

"That was a mere coincidence, now my attack comes!" Cahl says pointing at Matrike, "Rainbow Leaf!"

"Rainbow Leaf?" Crescent says, confused.

Venasaur roars and takes in more sunlight as it would before performing Solar Beam, but instead of firing out a beam of light.. Venasaur sends a few dozen small leaf shaped bits of light. As the sun hits the solar powered Razor Leafs, a prism affect occurs and Matrike and Crescent are transfixed by a gorgeous rainbow. "Wow.."

Crescent looks over at Matrike who is also in awe over the spectacular attack. "Watch out!" Crescent yells, but is too late.

"Don't worry," Cahl says returning Venasaur to its Pokeball. "I wasn't aiming at Matrike.." Cahl points to Matrike and sees the Razor Leaves formed a Heart shape around Matrike and smiled.

"Pokemon Contest are about appreciating Pokémon's beauty, this much is true. However, contests are not just about Beauty, there are other types that are important. Toughness, Coolness, Smartness and of course Cuteness. To win a Pokemon contest, you must show your Pokémon's inner beauty as much as it's outer beauty. Venasaur isn't the most beautiful Pokemon, but Rainbow Leaf shows off its Beauty very well."

Crescent considers Cahl's words, "I guess you're right." He turns to Matrike, "let's go practice before the contest starts!"

"You have plenty of time.. The contest for today is over. You best prepare for Tomorrow's contest."

"Thanks," Crescent says to Cahl, bowing deeply in respect. He picks up Matty and cradles her as he starts to walk away. "We're gonna have to work on your attacks and get you cleaned up. Hopefully we'll run into Cahl and Venasaur again, huh?" He stops and decides to ask where Cahl's off to next but sees he's already gone. "Damn.. He's gone. Well I'm sure we'll see him if we do good enough in the contests, right?" He looks down at Matrike.

"Trike! Maa ma~atrike!" Matty responds purring.

After watching a few contests, the sun started going down and the two met deep in Grabit Forest. Crescent paced back and forth as Matrike stared at him, "alright what do we know about Contests?" He cycled through what they had learned. "There are two rounds total, first being appeal which you'll pass easily."

Matty closed her eyes and purred happily.

"Then there's the battle round which Cahl showed us how to do it right," he recalled. "What we need is to increase your move pool so you can win battles and look good while doing so."

Matrike nodded excitedly.

Crescent pointed his gauntlet at Matrike, "_Matrike, the Match Cat Pokemon -_"

"No, I need her moves," Crescent interrupted.

"_Matrike knows Ember, Scratch, Growl, Flamewheel, Quick Attack and Fire Spin._"

"FireSpin? Ooh.." He smirked, "Matrike I think I have an idea." Matrike looked nervous but Crescent seemed confident. "Let's try this.."

* * *

The next day Crescent and Matrike entered the Contest Hall and became nervous instantly. Matrike fit in perfectly but Crescent was out of place, everyone was wearing dresses or tuxedos where as Crescent's clothes were dirty. He wiped his clothes off the best he could but was interrupted by a woman.

"Excuse me, are you a coordinator?"

"Me? Haha, no I'm -" He paused for a second, remembering where's he's at. "Oh right yeah, I am. Err, well trying to be."

"You have your Contest Pass?"

"Yes," he reached in his pocket and handed the woman the pass he had got before coming here.

She checked it over and then looked at Matrike, "this is your Matrike?"

He nodded, "yep, that's Matty."

The woman knelt down and rubbed Matrike's neck, "you don't use a Contest Collar?"

"A what?" He asked confused.

She looked down at his hand, seeing the gauntlet. "Oh, you're a trainer too?"

He looked at his hand, at Matrike then at the lady. "What!?"

The woman laughed, "You don't know? Normally Coordinators use Contest Collars for their Pokemon instead of Poke Balls. The Collars produce a small Force Field around the Pokemon preventing dirt or anything to get on their fur so they're always in top shape for contest."

Crescent seemed surprised, "oh well.. I didn't know that. Where can you get one?"

"It's usually a prize for winning a Preliminary Contest so a Coordinator can have a Collar before entering a real Contest."

Crescent mentally cursed himself for not thinking of that earlier, he was starting to think he was really out of his league this time.

"Don't worry, it doesn't really make a difference in Contests, just means you have to clean them off yourself or they can clean themselves." She said and turned to leave, "you may want to register quickly, and it's going to begin soon."

Crescent watched her leave and looked at Matrike, "alright girl, here we go!" He walked up to the desk. "Hi, I'd like to register for this Contest Hall."

The receptionist stared blankly and handed him some papers which he sat down and started to fill out. As he neared the end, he was stumped. "This question.. _Pokémon's Unique Skill? _What's that?" He asked Matty, "You have a move only you can use?" Matrike shook her head.

"We'll just put uh.. Heh, Stone Drop. Haha," he chuckled at the memory of Balum's technique. He got up and returned the paper to the receptionist who gave him a card after looking over the papers.

"This is your Contest Pass, once you have your first Ribbon you can get a new one, this one is pretty plain but it goes to all the newcomers."

He nodded and looked around at the pokemon he would be competing against. He saw no one he recognized and was relieved that Terra was no where nearby. Before he could ask when the Contest was going to start a loud sound and voice entered the room.

"_Will all Coordinators and Spectators please take their places in the Hall, we will begin a few minutes._"

Crescent wasn't sure who to follow but decided on following the group who moved around with Pokemon out and Collars on. They lead him to a backstage area where he found out he wasn't the only nervous one. Learning this made him feel more at ease. After relaxing more he noticed one of the Coordinators was very cute, he decided to go over and introduce himself. "Uh, Hi."

The girl with long blond hair turned and smiled back at him, "I'm Delana, and it's my first Contest." She looked down at her Sneasel who seemed a bit nervous. "This is Roxanne, she's a little nervous but really good."

"I'm Crescent," he said shaking her hand. He leaned down far enough to pet Matrike's head gently, "this is Matty."

"Wow, you don't see many Starters in Contest Halls." She said surprised.

"R-really?" He said surprised, "Matty's perfect for contest.."

"Oh," she started upon seeing his reaction to her comment. "I just meant cause they're usually only given to Trainers."

"Ah, right, right." He said nodding. Looking at Matrike he saw her walk over to Sneasel and pulled her tail against the ground. "Oh crap.." He dropped to his knees and held Matrike back, her tail staying on the ground so it doesn't erupt in flames. "Relax Matrike, you can't start a fire here." He said quietly to her.

Delana giggled at Crescent actions and then looked out the curtains, "oh they're about to start!"

The woman who had talked to Crescent earlier was walking toward the middle of the arena, a microphone in her hand. "Welcome everyone to Stark Town's Contest Hall!" She shouted excitedly, gaining the audience's applause.

"As everyone knows, first up is the Appeal Round!" Another round of applause. "We begin with Hector and his pokemon Stevey the Starly."

Hector, who was a small boy wearing thick glasses which reminded Crescent of Korona. He pointed upward, "Stevey, show them what you can do!"

The Starly, which was actually quite large for a Starly, flew from his shoulder into the air, spun around and stared down. The bird began to flap his wings, first easy then more powerful and a large gust of wind was produced. Before the wind died out, Starly used Double Team and now there was a flock of Starlys who all started using Gust.

In the middle of the arena, a small ball of wind was being formed which grew larger and larger as they sent more wind down. The Starlys disappeared and the real one stared hard at the ball of wind before unleashing Hurricane downward at it. The Wind began to clash with the wind ball and a small tornado was now growing bigger.

"Big finish!" Hector called out.

Starly nodded and started diving downward, its Brave Bird attack. Its body begins to glow as it starts twisting around, turning into a cyclone of its own. As Starly reaches the tornado the winds explode outward, catching everyone off guard and then Starly lands on the ground, a ball of wind surrounding it.

The crowd cheers excitedly. "Thank you Hector and Stevey that was quite the show!" The woman looks down at the piece of paper, "next we have Jasmine and her Miltank!"

Crescent stared wide-eye at Hector. _Oh this is bad.. that guy did all that.. that was amazing. We.. we can't do that, no way. _He looked down at Matrike who seemed eager to go out there. _Aiyaa.. Matrike really wants to show them up, I can't let her stop now._

Crescent and Matrike watched the Coordinators and Pokemon all each come out until it was down to just him and Delana. Once he heard his name called he screamed loudly in his mind that he wasn't ready but Matrike got him over his stage fright by scratching him. "Okay.. here we go."

Matrike walked gracefully across the arena and Crescent followed slowly behind. "A-Alright, Matrike - like we practiced!"

Matrike nodded happily, "Maaa~aaw.." She started running forward dragging her tail against the ground. Leaping into the air and pulling her tail to her face, she exhaled and Matrike was now a flaming wheel sailing through the air.

The wheel of fire that was Matrike started to grow larger as she unleashed Fire Spin, and continued to sail higher into the air. Crescent watched excitedly, _Now comes Quick Attack._

The wheel of fire reached its peak and started to descend, Matrike started her Quick Attack, giving the fire a lighter tint and sending it back down to the ground at amazing speed. Hitting the ground, she continued to roll around till she was circling around the arena with great agility. _Big finish.._

Matrike veered left and positioned herself into the middle of the arena before slamming her tail into the ground sending her flying back into the air like a Pounce attack. She reached high enough and turned her body to face the audience before unleashing a double Fire Spin in opposite directions, covering up the ceiling like a sky of flames.

She landed back on the ground gracefully and pranced to Crescent who grinned, happily. The audience applauded and the woman returned to the arena. "Now we have Delana and Roxanne!"

Crescent picked up Matrike and returned to behind the curtain and hugged her tightly, "you did great Matrike, just like we planned."

Matrike purred happily and nuzzled herself to Crescent's chest. "I guess this was the right call for you, huh?"

He turned to watch Delana and Roxanne's appeal but found out he was too late when he saw Sneasel leaping off the giant ice statue, which is must have made of itself, and back to Delana.

The woman applauded Delana and Roxanne as they walked back to the backstage area and waited for the spectators to die down. "That's it for our Appeal Round, we'll have a short intermission and then the Battle Round begins!"

Crescent caught Delana as she return and clapped for her, "that was great, your Sneasel is good."

She blushed slightly, "well.. it took a lot of practice." She leaned down and pet Sneasel's head. "She's just so determined to win."

He chuckled, "well with ice sculpting skills like that I think you're bound to win."

She looked at him, surprised. "you don't sound like you really want to win."

He froze for a second and thought about it, "well it's not really my thing but Matrike really seems to like it so I'm just helping her."

She turned her head a bit, "you know if you really don't like it.. there are plenty of other Coordinators Matrike could compete with."

He considered it, "Huh.. I didn't really think of that. Just got her, actually, a few days ago."

She nodded, "you guys haven't really bonded yet." She hugged Sneasel, "we've been competing for awhile now. Haven't won a contest yet, though."

Crescent gulped, _she's that good but hasn't won yet? _"R-Really? Wow and.. you're so good."

Delana shrugged, "not good enough, I guess."

Crescent looked down at Matrike who seemed to be nervous as well due to Delana's words but he covered for them quickly. "Well we're pretty determined so I think we stand a chance."

"Me too," she said smiling a little. "Just hope it'll be enough, compared to everyone else I mean."

Crescent's leg was beginning to shake in nervousness now, he paced around to hide it. "C-c-come on Matty, let's go get ready for the Battle Round."

After talking to Matrike for about ten minutes, they eased their worries and were back to neutral for the next round of the contest. A loud _ding _rang out and the woman from earlier was speaking through the speakers. "The next round is about to begin, please make your way to the arena in an orderly fashion."

Crescent looked down at Matrike, who nodded to him, making him smile and they walked back to the arena and stood in the already line of Coordinators.

"Alright, now let's begin the Battle Round, please draw your attention to the screen above and we will see who will be battling who. The battles are randomly decided, so now let's begin!" She pointed up at the screen and it flashed brightly and showed pictures of all the Coordinators, Crescent noticed he had to battle against Hector second if he won his first match.

"Let's begin, first off.. Liam versus Airi!"

Fifteen minutes had passed before the first round was over, Crescent's eyes were barely in his head after seeing the two Coordinators skill. He assumed Cahl was a very skilled Coordinator in their earlier battle but was surprised to see each Coordinator was at this level as well. He sighed deeply and absentmindedly started petting Matrike's head as he thought of his previous battles.

His first match was him and Pillanter against Matrike, which ended with him and Pillanter winning, but only barely. Then Korona and himself teamed up and inevitably lost, his first trainer battle. His most recent battle was against Cahl which he hadn't lost, but could never have defeated him.

Cahl was merely showing Crescent what Coordinators see when they battle and not until he had watched Liam and Airi had he understood how to show off a Pokémon's beauty like they had. Venasaur wasn't about to win any awards for cuteness but the way he and Cahl battled together certainly proved their bond and skill. He scratched Matrike's head and stood up as his name was called out.

Walking over to the opposite side of the arena he took a deep breath and looked at his Gauntlet, _if Cahl can prove Venasaur's beauty.. _"Sorry, Matty, this first match isn't yours."

Matrike looked insulted but just yawned and laid down - much to Crescent's surprise.

The woman stood in the middle of the arena and raised her arm, "you may begin.. now!"

Crescent's opponent, a girl with girly brown hair held her hand back and then threw it forward sending out a pokeball. "Minny, go!"

The pokeball landed on the ground, released a small blue and yellow mouse pokemon with dashes on its cheek, and returned to the owner.

Crescent mentally sent a message to his pokemon, _I know this is your first real battle but I know you can do it. _He thrust out his Gauntlet, "Dirfly, go!"

A beam of light escaped the gauntlet's palm and sent out Cashell's second evolution. Dirfly resembled a brown mosquito, only its wings were green.

-_Crescent has the advantage in the match, Dirfly was a ground and flying type, electric attacks had no power with it. Julie better come up with a good strategy if she hopes to come out on top.- _The woman's voice echoed as she narrated the battle.

"Minny, Quick Attack!"

The small mouse pokemon took a sprinter's stance and then vanished, only to reappear in mid-air in front of Dirfly and slam its body into the flying pokemon, knocking it back.

"Counter it with with Mud Shot!"

Dirfly regained its senses and shot out a blob of dirt and mud at Minun's direction, missing half the time. The attack was somewhat affective as it threw Minun back and dirtied it up, gaining Crescent some points.

"Iron Tail!"

Minun's small tail glowed brightly and it ran forward, leaping into the air, spinning around and slamming it down onto Dirfly - who avoided the attack quickly.

-_Mud shot is a risky move as it doesn't do much damage but mainly used for lowering the speed of the opponent's pokemon_-

"Counter with Gust!"

Dirfly swung its wings back and then pulled them together, sending a large burst of wind at Minun who was sent backwards into the muddy ground and began sliding.

"Agility!"

Minun's ears twitched at her trainer's words and it stopped itself from sliding and began to skate across the muddy ground as if on skates, gaining Julie some points. As Minus skated across the arena, its speed increased further and further, the mud now helping Minun gain speed.

"Harden!"

Dirfly folded its wings over its body and gloved as its body began to harden.

"ExtremeSpeed!"

-_Wow, ExtremeSpeed is a very rare move, only few pokemon can learn it and until now I did not think Minun was one of them!_-

"Harden again!"

As Dirfly's body glows against, Minus vanishes and reappears next to the flying Pokemon and spins around, repeatedly hitting it with its tail and then stopping to finish it's combo with a headbutt. Dirfly hits the ground, losing points.

Crescent sighs, underestimating the opponent was his downfall. "No time to waste, Drill Tackle!"

-_This must be one of the Unique Moves that are said to be very hard to learn, let's see what Dirfly's Unique Skill is._-

Dirfly forced itself to the air again and rose higher and higher, its body beginning to glow. It flapped its wings and started to fly around the arena, circling Minun as if it were prey. Its speed increased and soon it was no longer visible but part of a cyclone high above Minun. The large cyclone grew smaller and smaller until it was the size of Dirfly once more.

"Minny, Light Screen!"

Minun produced an invisible screen of light to guard from the attack.

Dirfly swooped back up and started going down, the peak of the tornado leading the attack. As Dirfly reaches Minun, the tip of the tornado shatters the Light Screen and reaches the opponent.

"Technique.. Mud Blast!"

Dirfly continues spinning like a cyclone, inches from Minun and before long large, thick pieces of mud fly from all directions from the tornado, hitting Minun dead on, getting the mouse pokemon dirty and weakening it greatly.

The tornado finally does down and Dirfly stares at Minun before launching a final blast of mud, KOing Minun.

-_Winner, Crescent and Dirfly!_-

Crescent throws his arm into the air and whistles for Dirfly to come back and hugs his pokemon. "Haha, you did great Dirfly." He placed his Gauntlet on the head of Dirfly and absorbed the Pokemon. He walked back to the sitting area and sat down, Matrike hopping onto his lap.

* * *

It took awhile for Crescent second match to arrive but thanks to the battles he watched he gained a few ideas for both Dirfly and Matrike. His match against Hector was now beginning, he learned from the first match that Hector had both a Starly and a Starmie. If he used Starmie then Matrike would be a disadvantage and Dirfly would lose quickly as well. Staring at his gauntlet, "guess we see how you battle now.."

Hector reaches to his belt and pulls out a poke ball, "Go, Stevey!"

The ball released Starly and Crescent sends out his own pokemon.

"Lotad!" Crescent yelled, sending out his recently caught Lotad.

Lotad appeared out of the poke ball and squirted some water from its mouth into its leaf bowl and prepared itself for battle.

Crescent leaned down to Matrike, "after Lotad had beaten you I caught it cause it was so strong, I thought we could use a hand." He explained to Matty, who looked very annoyed at him.

"Water gun!"

Lotad took a breath and fired at jet of water at Starly who avoided it with ease, Crescent noted that Lotad's accuracy and speed were lower than he thought.

Hector seemed to notice this fact as well and took advantage. "Sand Attack!" He commanded.

Starly flapped its wings, tiny particles of sand mixing with the wind and pushing Lotad back. "Aerial Ace." Hector called out, a smirk on his face. Starly swooped high into the air and then dove back down, gaining speeds and beginning to glow. At the last second Starly swerved and went straight, crashing into Lotad before Crescent could give an order.

Crescent narrowed his eyes. _We're too slow against it. We gotta get faster.. _"Water Pulse!" He ordered.

Lotad took a breath and exhaled stream of water with great speeds. Starly once again dodges it as the attack flies passed him, ends and just splashes on the ground.

"They'll never catch you Stevey! Double Team!"

_-The match is beginning to look one-sided. Starly's high speed is making the battle very hard for Lotad to hand a hit.-_

Crescent rolled his eyes, _like I didn't already know that. _"Mega Bubblebeam!" The trainer yelled out. Lotad inhaled deeply and sent a huge amount of bubbles at Starly, who dodged them. "Again!"

Lotad followed up again after the first attack and sent another wave of bubbles at Starly who was still dodging.

_-Crescent's attack is filling the area with bubbles, increasing his score a bit.-_

The boy was surprised he had gained points without trying. He looked around the room, it was indeed filled with bubbles and a small amount of water was on the ground thanks to multiple Water Pulses and the popped bubbles. "Rain Dance!"

"Quick Attack!" Hector yelled out.

Starly dodged perfectly through the bubbles, gaining him some points and then swooped down and threw its body into Lotad as it started the attack.

"Try again!" Crescent begged.

Lotad closed its eye and focused hard. The room got a bit darker as cloud appeared on the ceiling. Rain began to come down, popping most of the bubbles in the arena, increasing the amount of water.

"He's trying to gain the field advantage!" Hector realized. "Whirlwind!"

Crescent winced. "Water Pulse!"

Starly flapped its wings harshly, pulses of wind coming out at Lotad. Lotad's water pulse met the attack head on and they collided. The forces of the two attacks cause a mini-hurricane in the middle of the arena.

"Be careful, Stevey!" Hector said worriedly. "That storm could suck you in!"

"Now! Lotad, use Mist!" Crescent screamed out, an idea on his mind.

The small green and blue pokemon took a small breath and exhaled a freezing cold breath, actually freezing the water around it and slowly reach towards the hurricane that was increasing in size.

"Brave Bird!" Hector commanded, getting his cool back.

Starly glows brightly and started at Lotad at great speed.

"Head underwater!" Crescent commanded, the water was now partially frozen and up to his waist.

Lotad leapt into the air and dove underwater.

Starly couldn't stop its attack and crashed into the ice and into the water. "Stevey!" A second later Starly shot out of the ice, a bit weakened and wet but still going strong.

Crescent took a breath, _okay this is our chance, we can win this now. _"Energy ball!"

The center of the frozen whirlpool began to crack and large green and light blue ball of energy flies out of the ice and hits Stevey, knocking him out.

_-Due to Lotad being under water at the time and breaking through ice the Energy Ball was Water/Grass/Ice attack. Very rare skill. Since flying types are weak against Ice, Stevey must be feeling it. -_

Hector held out his arms as the bird started to fall, "Stevey!" The bird pokemon caught itself before falling completely. "Use Endeavor!" Hector ordered.

Starly glowed brightly and shook a few times. The attack drained Lotad of his remaining life, with the attack effective, Lotad started to look tired.

_Their points are even, this next attack is gonna be the end of it._

Hector looked from Starly to Lotad to eventually Crescent. "Hey, you're pretty good."

Crescent smiled. "Thanks, you too."

"Aerial Ace!"

"Move and use Razor Leaf from below!"

Lotad rushed over to the size and sent his razor leaves under the ice, only to have them shoot back up, now shining brightly as Starly reaches Lotad..

The leaves dig into the Starly's right wing, throwing it off balance and causing it to crash into the ground.

Everyone looks up at the score board as both Crescent and Hector's points are very low, but even. They turn back to see Starly attempting to get up.

Crescent looks to Lotad who seems to be injured. "Rest." He says quietly and Lotad goes to sleep, regaining his energy.

Hector rushes over to his Starly and picks it up. "Stevey.. can you continue?"

Starly nods it head slowly before passing out.

_-Winner of the semi-finals! Crescent Kindorushi!-_

Crescent runs passed his sleeping Lotad to Hector and Starly. "I-Is it okay?"

Hector nods. "He's fine, just hurt his pride more than anything." After returning Starly to his pokeball, he held out a hand to Crescent. "Good match."

Crescent smiles happily and shakes Hector's hand. "You too."

After retrieving Lotad Crescent went backstage and decided to hold a pokemon meeting. Dirfly stayed floating in the air as Matrike glares at Lotad.

"Alright guys, this is Lotad. He's a much higher level than you guys so I think he'll be a great asset to our team. I hope you all will become friends."

Dirfly lowered itself and floated around Lotad for a few. "Dirr~rff! Fly!"

"Tad-tad-lootad!" Lotad replied and they both smiled and looked to Matrike who seemed annoyed.

Matrike simply leapt onto Crescent's shoulders and dug her paws in. "Ow! Alright, Alright, you're in the next match!"

Matrike purred and released her paws a bit and just stood there. "Maawww."

"You two did great so far!" Crescent said leaning down to Dirfly and Lotad. "One more victory and can get you guys' collars!"

* * *

Finally after what seemed like hours, the final match was starting. Crescent was surprised to see his opponent. Delana and her Sneasel were on the opposite side of the arena. _Crap.. she won a pre-lim already, she's way too high for me. _Upon feeling Matrike's claws dig in once more he sighed, "Well here goes."

_-Final Match - Crescent and his Matrike versus Delana and Sneasel! Begin!-_

Crescent gulps. "Looks like it's you and me then, eh?"

Delana smiles. "I.. lied before." He opened her shirt a little, showing three contest ribbons pinned on the inside. "I'm actually really good."

"Hope your good enough despite the type disadvantage!" Crescent taunted, a bit angry that she had lied to him earlier. _Must've been trying to get me nervous so I'd lose._

Matrike also seemed angry and was tapping her tail against the ground, causing sparks each time the tail hit.

"You won yours despite a disadvantage." Delana reminded him.

"What?" _Oh yeah, Grass is Weak against Flying.. I forgot. _He narrowed his eyes, "let's do this."

"Gladly." Delana replied pointing forward. "Rain Dance!"

The ceiling returned to what it was before, dark clouds hovered over the top of arena as rain began to pour down. _She's weakening my fire attacks, _Crescent thought.

"Smoke Screen then Defense Curl!" Crescent yelled, trying to come up with a strategy against Sneasel.

Matrike took a breath and exhaled a cloud of black smoke, hiding itself while it curled into a ball and hardened its body.

Delana waited for a few, not even worried as Matrike's defenses increased. "You may attack, I promise not to dodge." She grinned.

Crescent growled under his breath, "Flame wheel!" He looked over at Matrike who was rubbing her tail against the ground but getting no flame. "Oh no, the water.. we can't use any fire attacks."

"Haha! Bingo!" Delana taunted. "Faint Attack!" She pointed to Matrike as Sneasel vanished only to reappear in front of her and slam her body into Matrike's, throwing her down. "Fury Swipes!"

Sneasel raised it claws and started slashing away at Matrike multiple times before coming back to its original spot.

Something occurred in Crescent's head after the two attacks. "You're not a coordinator! You just do this for the battles! _That's_ why your appeal round is just an ice statue, you know nothing of real beauty!"

Delana scoffed. "I don't have to! Roxanne has the beauty she needs to win the Appeal Round and the raw talent it takes to win the Battle Round! Regardless, if I faint your pokemon I win. I may not know about beauty.. but winning, is _so _unattractive."

Crescent pointed his glove at Matrike, the attack list reading off. "_Matrike knows Ember, Scratch, Growl, Defense Curl, SmokeScreen, Flamewheel, Quick Attack, Swift, Rollout, and Fire Spin._"

Crescent closed his eyes for a second and then opened them. "Matrike, can you continue?"

Matrike cried out weakly, "Mawww..trike."

"Don't worry, you won't get hit again." Crescent assured her with a grin. "Just listen to me and I promise you you'll get cleaned off when you're done."

Matrike looked over at Crescent and smiled. "Trike!"

They both looked at their opponents for a minute before they all cried out.

"Ice Beam!"  
"Snee~aa!"  
"Rollout and Smoke Screen!"  
"Trike!"

Matrike curled into a ball and started rolling around, avoiding Sneasel's Ice Beam, as the small red wheel become black and Smokey, the air getting thicker as Matrike continues to exhale black smoke.

The wheel suddenly turned and headed straight for Sneasel. "Protect!" Delana yelled out and Sneasel through up an invisible light shield to protect itself.

Matrike crashed into the barrier and bounced off again. "Get more speed and do it again!" Crescent commanded.

"Not this time, kid! Use Dig and avoid the attack."

"Don't worry, just circle till she comes back up!"

Matrike rolled around, gaining more and more speed as the water was beginning to get drained from the hole in the middle of the arena.

"You.. you planned this!" Delana screamed.

"Sparkage!" Crescent commanded. Matrike let its tail hit the now dry ground and it igniting into a flame, Matrike was now a spinning flame wheel, the rollout was creating a fire ring on the ground then got closer and closer to the hole.

"Have to put out the flames, Roxanne! Rain Dance again!"

Sneasel shot out of the ground, completely missing Matrike and getting burned slightly from the flames. It reached the height of its flight and shot its arms into the sky. The cloud's returning and rain starting to come down.

"Fire Spin, before the flames are gone!" Crescent told Matrike.

Matrike pounced into the air, keeping her spin and created a giant cyclone of fire near halfway to the ceiling. She landed on the ground a second before Sneasel did and they turned to their trainers.

"Slash!"  
"Rollout Defense Curl Combo!"

Sneasel's attack was way off and Matrike began to roll around again as it continued to harden its body, raising its endurance.

Delana squinted through the smoke to find Sneasel, as it suddenly occurred to her. "You.. you've filled this entire area with smoke to lower Sneasel's accuracy! Well a lot of good it's done, you can't hit me either!"

Crescent smirked, "Now, strike it!"

Matrike turned and rushed at Sneasel and the pokemon looked around for the fire cat.

"Protect!" Delana yelled, hoping to be in time.

The barrier appeared and Matrike's attack was ineffective. "Now.. Swift!"

"Protect!"

Sneasel attempts to bring up its shield again, but fails and is hit by the stars and knocked back.

Delana looks around, "Roxanne, are you okay!?"

"Swift again!" Crescent orders and Matrike swings its tail once more and sends a large group of stars at Sneasel.

"Protect!" Delana cried out.

"Not smart, the more you use Protect in a row, the less likely it will appear."

Sneasel is hit with stars once again, its cry getting weaker as it gets hit.

"Agility! Agility! Agility! Increase your speed all the way, if it can't catch you, you won't get hurt!" Delana reasoned as Sneasel glowed and ran around the room at great speeds.

"You're wrong." Crescent commented. "Swift hits no matter what. Show her how it's down Matty! Flame Swift!"

_-Flame swift must one of Matrike's Unique Skills.-_

Matrike rubbed its tail against the ground, the tip of the tail bursting into flames, Matty leaped into the air and flipped forward, red flaming stars leaving her tail and traveling through the air to crash into Sneasel doing a large amount of damage.

Sneasel wobbles for a bit and then falls down, the stars that didn't hit him hit the ground and exploded in a burst of sparks like tiny fireworks.

The crowd cheers and Crescent pumps his fist into the air. "Yeah~! Come here Matty!" He kneeled down and Matrike came running to him and leapt into his arms.

_-"Winner of the Stark Town Pokemon Contest.. Crescent Kindorushi!"-_

The crowd burst into applause as Crescent bows, Matrike copying him.

Crescent attaches the Collars to each of his Pokemon and looks at them. Matrike's Collar was black and had a red flame going across it, which fitted her perfectly. Dirfly's was green and had silver spikes all around it. Lotad's was green and had blue bubbles all around it.

He pinned the ribbon on the outside of his shirt for the world to see. "Alright let's go meet Korona and Spaghetti at the Poke Center!" He said walking off, his pokemon following behind him.

((Sorry for the delay and I hope I did the contest part to everyone's liking. If you have a problem please comment or message us and we'll fix it or explain. ))


End file.
